rayonline

I am more a personal traveler, don't travel for work etc. Any use of hotel memberships now, what's your view on this?


Cheers.

sdsearch

I doesn't have to do with whether you're a business or personal traveler. It has to do with how much you travel.

I've never traveled on business more than a conference here or there once a decade or so. Yet I belong to multiple hotel programs just because I do enough personal travel, exploring the world.

For starters, many hotel programs don't give you free internet any more if you book through third-party sites like the ones you listed in the thread title. You have to book through the hotel program to get free internet. So you might as well earn points on those stays too, if you know how to keep the points from expiring (if you don't stay at hotels in any one program often enough).

On the other hand, if you only ever stay at those (lower-end) brands that give free internet to everyone anyway, then the above may not be a concern for you. Or if you have phone plan that give you unlimited internet worldwide for nothing other than a flat monthly fee, the above may not be a concern for you.

So, you, see the specifics matter a whole lot, and there is no general answer.

CPRich

Why would they not be? Why would a bunch of search tools impact the value of a hotel loyalty program? I suppose there's a greater chance that you find a non-chain property that you use. But find a chain on those tools, book with the program directly, and same as it ever was.

I suppose if you book your Marriott, SPG, etc., hotels through Trivago, you don't gt the value of the program. But why would you do that?

mahasamatman

I think they're even more relevant with the plethora of search engines. Find a cheap rate on a search engine, then get 10-20% off that rate by using the hotel program's BRG.

rayonline

I was thinking with personal travel it is self funded many would spend less and may not go to the international chain hotels other than that 2 or 3 night stop per year in a larger city before heading to a smaller town or to the rural side and do some hiking for eg. And one is not limited to just one small selection.

Would search engines be a bit more cheaper, I have found that to be the case here in New Zealand. Occasionally I have tried to do a online price at the hotel's own website.

sdsearch

Well, it may different in New Zealand, but both in the Americas and in Europe, in many smaller towns you still find hotel programs such as Best Western Rewards, Choice Privileges, and/or WyndhamRewards. And even some smaller towns are starting to get the midscale properties of the other programs, like Fairfield Inn for Marriott, Hampton Inn for Hilton, etc.

So perhaps the answers you seek are different in New Zealand? I don't know. Most of the people responding to your post are in other parts of the world, and I don't know how many of them have been to New Zealand (I haven't yet). And even for most of those who have been to New Zealand, that was probably at most a few weeks total out of many months or years of total travel experience in other parts of the world.

As someone with points in many different hotel programs, I hardly ever need to use indie (independent) hotels in North America, but I may pick the town to stay in (when having a rental car and driving all around the place anyway) a 20 minute drive one way that has a hotel program property over a town a 20 minute drive the other way that doesn't (especially in places where the rates are expensive in high season, but I want to go in high season, so I want to use points instead of money). In some smaller towns in South America I do find hotel program properties, in some I don't. I some smaller towns in Europe I do find hotel program properties, in some I don't. I some smaller towns in Japan I do find hotel program properties, in some I don't. In some smaller towns in southern Africa I do find hotel program properties, in some I don't.

I'm able to afford more travel because I earn points when hotels are cheap (and try to "follow the promos" to earn the most points), and then can redeem those points when hotels are expensive. One thing you need to realize is that in most hotel programs point cost is not proportional to cash cost, so there can be hotels that are cash expensive (due to the high season or events nearby) but can be still available for very reasonable numbers of points.

But you can't use that trick of "earn when it's cheap, redeem when it's expensive" with any of those sites you mentioned. One or two of them may have points programs, but their points programs are very proportional to cash price, so they're more than a slight discount.

Hotel program points users are able to save way more money (if you redeem for low points at a time when the cash cost is high) because hotel programs use "excess capacity" to make points room available. External points programs (like those from third-party sites you mentioned) don't have access to "excess capacity" and thus can't offer such deals with their external points.

For example, WyndhamRewards last year went to a super simple redemption chart: 15000 points for an available reward room at any property in the whole program! Not all rooms are available as rewards, but any room that is 15000 points, where it's a super cheap one-story roadside motel or a nice downtown business hotel. You won't find any third-party site which lets you earn at cheap roadside motels and redeem (not some of) those points at big city business hotels.

But again, I don't know how well that all works for someone basin in New Zealand.

rbAA

I'm retired, so all our travel is self funded. This September trip is 2 weeks in Europe and 3 in the US. I've used hotels.com for the difficult cities like Stresa (no "chains,") Florence and Venice (here the SPG properties are over the top in cost whether cash or pts,) but other than that, it's IHG and SPG, C+P, some all pts, some all cash. The status is very relevent, as at the Hotel Bristol and Westin Palace, the SNA's resulted in nice suites, and the status got us a further UPG at the Bristol to the Bristol suite as well as extremely early checkin-like 7:30am. In Florence, I paid an UPG charge to get the riverview room with a terrace in the pensione I booked thru hotels.com. So, my experience is either pay for what you want, or use the benefits that are available in the programs.

sbm12

I spent 150 nights away from home in 2016; 95% self-funded. Hotel status didn't do much for me at all.

The "free" breakfast/internet/theoretical upgrades/whatever didn't matter much to me. Sometimes I book direct. Sometimes I book via OTAs. Sometimes I stay in "nontraditional" accommodations like AirBnB or similar. Even camped for 6 of those 150 nights. No regrets at all walking away from hotel status once I was on the hook for the costs.

Which is not to say that booking direct is inherently bad. Nor are the OTAs. Price and other benefits all come in to play.

sdsearch

But obviously, the benefits you only get while booking direct could matter to someone who does cares about (one of more of) those benefits. Unlike you I care a lot about the breakfast and internet access. Also, I don' t just stay at hotel program properties "at random", I "follow the promos" (ie, I"m rarely staying at hotel program property on paid cash when it isn't having a promo that substantially increases the number of points or miles I'll earn).

So, yes, it also totally depends on what each person cares about. If all you care about is a fixed roof (supported by fixed walls) over your head, then where you book doesn't matter much (except that it still may be better to book as directly as possible to avoid multiple parties "blaming each other" in case something goes wrong).

sbm12

Perhaps, though I would strongly challenge the "free" tag oft assigned to those benefits. More often than not I get them just by being smart about my booking choices.